However, the domestic electricity bulb manufacturing industry will take about six to eight months to be fully ready to roll out LED bulb manufacturing programme to meet the staged requirement of these bulbs by the distribution agencies and household users. But, certain sections of the government are not willing to wait. The rush is sudden and unusual. It is sending wrong signals. As if, these government departments are more interested in quick imports from China than allow a few months for domestic industry to meet the full quota.

The fact is the government’s immediate procurement target exceeds domestic availability of the product for the present, giving rise to the ‘inevitable’ – import. And, Import from China which is ever ready to help India with its surplus export. As a result, some of the prospective local manufacturers are turning importers from China to make quick bucks. Let the make-in-India programme in this business suffer a set-back, at least for the time being, although there are dozens of companies which are capable of producing the LED bulbs and getting ready for the same within months. The present size of the LED business is said to be less than Rs. 2,000 crore as against the total lighting business of Rs. 12,000 crore. But, going by the official estimate, the LED lamp business alone will hit the Rs.20,000 crore mark within another five years time. Going by the Indian makers of the LED bulbs, the domestic industry is looking for a short breathe-in period to gear up to meet the challenge which the Modi-fied planners seem to be unwilling to spare. The latter seem to be more interested in quick imports from China than provide a brief breathing time to local manufacturers. Even some of the large domestic companies are said to be indulging in imports.

The government ways have even upset the MSME sector, a good number of these being manufacturers of CFL and cheaper GLS varieties of lamp. Several of them are ready to switch over and need a little time. But, massive imports pose a threat to their new venture. They may not be able to sell for months after their new ventures are ready. “They will be viable only operating at full production capacity. Why can’t the project be started as per the domestic availability? No one seems to be concerned with the disposal and destruction of the existing bulbs that are going to be replaced by LEDs,” points out Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary general of Confederation of All-India Traders. A twitter addict, he has already drawn the attention of the Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on the subject. However, the fact is the power minister is unlike to slow down the LED conversion project unless asked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.

The prime minister has already launched in Delhi a national programme for LED-based home and street lighting through a web system to enable consumers in the national capital to register requests for LED bulbs under DELP. The LED bulbs will be distributed in the city in a phased manner from March. The government wants to install LED bulbs for domestic and street lighting in 100 cities by March, next year. It seems what it ignored are two aspects – the domestic availability and waste disposals. LED will replace millions of old cheaper bulbs. The disposal facilities of the waste bulbs at various levels are yet to be made clear. Plastic and electronics wastes are already posing a major environmental threat to the society. In Delhi, LED bulbs will be provided to all domestic consumers at an initial payment of only Rs. 10 each. The cost of the bulb is said to be Rs. 130 each. The rest or Rs. 120 will be recovered from consumers at the (EMI) rate of Rs. 10 each for 12 months coming with the electricity bills. The open market price of the bulb varies around Rs.350 each. Bulk procurement through agencies will lower the cost to Rs. 130. These bulbs will have a warranty period of only three years each. The question is: do the lower warranty period meant to support Chinese import, the quality of which is often unreliable?

Once again being a prime minster-driven scheme, there is a huge enthusiasm among the officials in the power ministry to make it a quick success on the lines of the PM’s Jan Dhan Yojana, offering bank accounts to all poor households. The LED bulb scheme is prioritized through all towns with population of over 100,000 each. An innovative business model has been chalked out by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), requiring no investment by municipalities. According to official estimates, if all 77 crores of incandescent bulbs sold in the country every year are converted to LEDs, the annual power saving would come to 26 billion KWh (kilowatt hour) worth over Rs. 16,000 crore at current prices. The commonsense suggests that the government would do well by fully involving the local industry and local waste disposal facilities in such a project and avoid an unnecessary import rush and haphazard waste management. (IPA Service)